The Nasdaq Now: Oracle Hits New 52-Week High

Western Digital and Seagate were also up on the day.

Stay Connected

MINYANVILLE ORIGINAL It was a day of chopping trading at the markets, with US stocks hovering between mild gains and losses over continued fiscal cliff worries. Earlier, the White House rejected a budget proposal proposed by House Speaker John Boehner.

"Markets continue to be very much focused on fiscal cliff resolution," Ryan Larson, the Chicago-based head of US equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management, told Bloomberg. His firm oversees $250 billion. "The move over the last few days has been supported by optimism that a deal will be reached by year-end. However, so far today we're seeing a bit of caution as Congressional leaders remain at different ends on several key issues."

The Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) was up 0.02% to 3,055.06 points on robust trading volume of 900.87 million as of 12:11 p.m. EST.

Alterra Capital (NASDAQ:ALTE) soared 24.19% to $28.75 after rival Markel (NYSE:MKL) (-7.58%) agreed to buy the company for some $3 billion in cash, or $31 per share, which represents a 34% premium to Alterra's Tuesday closing price of $23.15.

"The addition of Alterra's reinsurance and large account insurance portfolios will serve to diversify and strengthen Markel's current book of specialty insurance business," said Markel Vice Chairman Steven Markel in a statement.

After taking a Newtown-related 10% tumble yesterday, Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ:SWHC) recovered 8.34% to $8.44 in spite of a downgrade to Neutral from Outperform from Cowen & Co. Sturm Ruger (NYSE:RGR) was also up 5.00%.

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) improved 4.09% to $34.22 after reporting better-than-expected earnings yesterday, surpassing its previous 52-week high of $33.29. For its fiscal second quarter, Oracle posted per-share profit of $0.64 on revenue of $9.1 billion, compared to the consensus estimate of profit of $0.61 a share and revenue of $9.02 billion.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) (+3.55% to $41.01) and Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) (+3.25%) both rose on the day after getting Buy-from-Hold upgrades from Craig Hallum.

PLX Technology (NASDAQ:PLXT) plunged 17.67% to $3.71 after the Federal Trade Commission issued an administrative complaint to bock the proposed $330 million. merger between PLX and Integrated Device Technology (NASDAQ:IDTI) (+4.12%). The FTC said that the deal "allegedly would give the combined firm a near-monopoly in the market for a type of integrated computer circuits called PCIe switches, which perform critical connectivity functions in computers and other electronic devices widely used by American consumers and businesses."

Home Loan Servicing Solutions (NASDAQ:HLSS) also dipped 2.54% to $18.95. On Tuesday, the company announced a follow-on equity offering of some 22 million ordinary shares at $19.00 per share.

The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.